WAVY and WTKR have found great spots for newswomen returning to local airwaves

While recuperating from a recent heart attack and subsequent open heart surgery, I watched a lot of television, and I made this discovery:

Woodard and Furey have returned to television.

Yep. They’re back, and most welcome, as co-hosts of mid-morning talk shows on WTKR and WAVY, respectively, sharing the camera with genial partners. Smiling is epidemic on both programs.

Woodard and Furey show us daily how they have mastered the art of TV chat.

They skate effortlessly from one subject to another, from Pet Pal of the Week to the latest festival in Virginia Beach to the delights of kolache, a pastry from Eastern Europe."

“I feel that this show was meant for me – it’s a blessing,” said Woodard of “Coast Live,” which airs at 10 a.m. weekdays on CBS affiliate Channel 3-WTKR , where she worked as a reporter in the early 1990s. “I’m having fun getting used to the slower pace.”

She means slower than her previous jobs in television, including 15 seasons with the nationally syndicated “Inside Edition,” to which she still contributes. Woodard’s recent report from Norfolk on the 19-month-old red panda AWOL from the Virginia Zoo was topical and nicely done.

“Doing ‘Coast Live’ is a lot less stressful than working on ‘Inside Edition.’ I’m not on the road every day dealing with the traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel or racing to catch a train or airplane. At times I miss the chaos of working on ‘Inside Edition’ – the access to Broadway, the red-carpet interviews, meeting show business celebrities and fashion designers, finding out what’s news before the rest of the world,” Woodard said.

Woodard left that behind to return to Virginia to care for her parents, who are 92 and 86.

She debuted on “Coast Live” with Cheryl Nelson on Sept. 6 , promising an hour of food, fun and flair. Woodard’s specialty is pop culture. Lifestyles.

“We do a lot with a small, wonderful team. We have room to grow,” she said.

“I’ve been encouraged to help bring guests aboard, put together segments and work daily in developing the show with executive producer Dan Cawley and producer Amber Snowden. Being that I was gone for 20 years, I’m finding out how much I still don’t know about Hampton Roads. I do know that the arts and festivals help make it a great place to live.”

Woodard continues as an assistant professor at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism at Hampton University.

It was also in September that Furey rejoined “The Hampton Roads Show,” on which she appeared from its debut seven years ago until 2012, when she left Channel 10 to spend more time with her family – to slow things down, is how she put it. It was also in September that Furey rejoined “The Hampton Roads Show,” on which she appeared from its debut seven years ago until 2012, when she left Channel 10 to spend more time with her family – to slow things down, is how she put it.

Of returning to local television, Furey said: “I love what I do and want to do it. I felt completely adrift without a job and the identity that came with it. Our executive producer, Stephanie Cooke, was very instrumental in getting the WAVY bosses and me to envision doing the ‘Hampton Roads Show’ – a role I could assume on television and still have time to put my kids on the school bus in the morning and beat them home. The kids are doing great.”

Chris Reckling is the male presence on “The Hampton Roads Show,” seen weekdays at 11 a.m. on WAVY-TV 10, the NBC affiliate. “When it comes to a show where a great deal is unscripted, the issue of chemistry is a big one. You have it or you don’t. Chris and I have it,” she said.

Furey and Reckling years ago worked together on the same team delivering news and sports on weekends. Furey then went on to co-anchor WAVY’s early-morning and noon newscasts and took part in “The Hampton Roads Show.”

“I’m on a kinder, gentler schedule now,” she said. “There is definitely less stress. While I miss the fast pace of doing news, I’m grateful to be part of the team on ‘The Hampton Roads Show.’ ”